Road Developments
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DETAILS of several important road schemes were announced on Friday, while today the Minister of Transport is due to open the central area by-pass at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs.
The potentially most valuable of the newly announced schemes is the 20-mile Somerset extension of the M5 motorway. The route now .fixed for this road runs from the southern end of Cribbs Cause-way, north of Bristol, in a south-westerly direction to join A38 at East Brent. The motorway will have dual three-lane carriageways and will run east of Cleveden and Weston-super-Mare and west of Nailsea.
Meanwhile, next month a start is, to be made on the seven-mile Warwick by-. pass. which is due to be completed in about two years and will take the major A41/A46 trunk-road traffic west and south of the town.
Also announced on Friday was a grant of £220,384 by the Ministry to Durham County Council towards the cost of diverting a length of the Jarrow-South Shields road (A185) and the construction of half a mile of new dual carriageway to provide an eastern link with the Tyne Tunnel approaches, Known as the Jarrow Slake diversion, it will include a viaduct over the Don Valley.
A North East scheme already under way is a roundabout and underpass project at the Pilgrim Street bottleneck in Newcastle upon Tyne. The specially interesting feature of this development is that about 20 miles of electric cable are
to be embedded in the road to warm the surface in winter and prevent icing. The total load of the heating system will be 544 kW.
Over in the North West the Minister of Transport has approved proposals by Merseyside local authorities for a programme of classified road schemes to cost an estimated £30m. It is hoped to start these during the next five years, the Government contributing £23m. in grants and loans. Provision has been made for the second Mersey tunnel and its approach roads in north Liverpool and Wallasey, and a scheme for improving the approaches at the Birkenhead end of
the existing tunnel..
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MI Extension: Work is to start immediately on the construction of a further 141--mile length of the northern extension of MI between Pinxton and Barlhorough, in Derby shire. This will take the motorway to within a few miles of the West Riding of Yorkshire boundary. The work is expected to be completed in about two years and will cost more than £121m, World Meeting: The Duke of Edinhurgh has consented to he the patron of the International Road Federation Fifth World Meeting which will he held in London from September 18 to 24 next year. It will be organized by the British Road Federation and will cover all aspects of roads and road development throughout the world. Members of the technical advisory panel for the meeting will include Sir William Glanville, until recently director of the Road Research Laboratory, and recipient last week of the Viva Shield awarded by the Worshipful Company of Carmen for his services to roads and road safety.